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March 22, 1895 –Auguste and Louis Lumiere first demonstrated motion pictures in Paris using celluloid film. Unless it was March 19, 1895, or December 28, 1894, or cellulite instead of celluloid. And it may have been in Milan, or Warsaw, and it’s possible it wasn’t Louis and Auguste Lumiere, but Max and Emil Skladanowsky. TheContinue reading “The first public screening of a film, (possibly)”

Today is the earliest day on which Easter Sunday (in the Roman Catholic faith) may occur, not that it occurs on this date this year; Easter is April 17th this year.

March 22, 1978 –The seminal mockumentary about The Pre-Fab Four, The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash, directed by Eric Idle and Gary Weis and starring some people from Monty Python and some other people from SNL, premiered on NBC-TV on this date. Eric Idle was inspired to make this movie when George Harrison showedContinue reading “The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash premiered”

It’s a time to appreciate and support poets and poetry around the world. It is held on March 21 each year and is an initiative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Hollow Men – T.S. Elliot Demand Euphoria!

The Russian Royal family was having a really bad day, in a month that was particularly bad. On March 21, 1917, Nicholas II and his family were official arrested. It was a confused and confusing period, and the situation would only continue to deteriorate until the October Revolution (in November). The eventual triumph of theContinue reading “Today’s episode of Oh, that Wacky Russian Revolution:”

March 21, 1947 –In honor of the start of Spring, let us seriously consider spring cleaning and the unhappy ending of the Collyer brothers. Homer and Langley Collyer were well-to-do New Yorkers who grew up in a fashionable brownstone in Harlem with their mother and father, just before the turn of the previous century. UnfortunatelyContinue reading “For Goodness Sake – Clean Up After Yourself”

March 21, 1995 –We all get to spend Dave Nelson’s first day at WNYX when NewsRadio, starring Dave Foley, Phil Hartman, Maura Tierney and Andy Dick premiered on NBC-TV, on this date. Maura Tierney was added to the cast the day before they shot the pilot.

March 20, 1900 –Nikola Tesla received a patent (US 645576 A) for the wireless transmission of electric power on this date. Early radio antennas and telegraphy used the invention, but variations of the coil can also do things that are just plain cool – like shoot lightning bolts, send electric currents through the body andContinue reading “Another patent for Tesla”

March 20, 1982 –Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’ single I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll begins a seven week run at #1 on this date. Jett was touring England as a member of an all teenage girl group called The Runaways when she discovered this song, originally recorded by a British group called The Arrows inContinue reading “I Love Rock and Roll hit No. 1”

March 20, 1828 –Let’s drink a toast of Aquavit to the playwright Henrik Ibsen, born in Skien, Norway on this date. He was a small time cherry herring bootlegger and an assistant stage manager for a new theater, where it was his job to produce a new drama each year based on Norway’s glorious past.Continue reading “A forest bird never wants a cage.”